Angola's government is awash in cash because of rising oil prices and vastly increased oil production. Angola now pumps between 1.5 million and 2 million barrels of oil a day, more than any other African country besides Nigeria. The government takes in two and half times as much money today as it did three years ago.
Hotels in the capital Luanda are booked two months in advance, partly by oil companies. Sales of luxury cars are booming. The International Monetary Fund estimates Angola's economy will grow this year by 24 percent, one of the world's fastest rates.
Yet ordinary Angolans, by many indications, remain desperately poor. Angola ranks as the world's 17th least developed country, with sky-high rates of infant mortality and illiteracy and frequent epidemics due to widespread lack of sanitation and clean water. Analysts for Catholic University of Angola's research center say two in three Angolans still live on $2 or less a day, the same percentage as in 2002, when the civil war ended.
Many Angolans assume that government officials are the greatest beneficiaries of the country's wealth. One local newspaper in 2003 identified 17 of Angola's richest men as former or current government officials.
Government officials dispute allegations of corruption, although they acknowledged that lax conflict of interest laws may have allowed some to build up private businesses while holding government positions. Top officials insist the poverty rate is dropping. And with parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled for next year, a massive push to rebuild the country's ruined infrastructure is underway.
According to the government, 2,400 miles of roads have been rebuilt, four airports renovated and more than 430 miles of new rail track laid.
While the government seems increasingly anxious to demonstrate that oil wealth is turning into widespread benefits, it is increasingly chary of admonition-laced advice from the West. This year it limited its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund. To finance the country's post-war construction, Angola has relied on China, borrowing up to $12 billion. Officials estimate that China has sent some 3,000 workers to Angola.
Angola is China's biggest supplier of oil and the sixth biggest supplier to the U.S. It joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - a sign, some Angola government officials say, that Angola is recognized as a major oil producer.
Given estimates that the U.S. will import one-fourth of its oil from Africa by 2015, an independent commission of the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations recommended in April that the United States build closer ties to Angola.
"Outside the continent's crisis areas, few African countries are more important to U.S interests than Angola, " the commission's report said.
--Sharon LaFraniere, Nov. 7, 2007
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11/20/2011 08:00 AM
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Portugal’s Financial Crisis Leads It Back to Angola
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A former colonial power’s financial crisis has led it, hat in hand, back to an African nation it once dominated.
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06/30/2011 08:00 AM
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Lobo Antunes’s ‘Land at the End of the World’ - Book Review
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 In this newly translated novel, the Portugese writer António Lobo Antunes recalls the waning days of his country’s colonial efforts in Angola.
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11/06/2010 07:00 AM
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Rapes at Congo and Angola Line Spur Call for Inquiry
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More than 600 women and girls were recently raped along the Congo-Angola border during a mass expulsion of illegal immigrants, according to the United Nations .
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09/07/2010 08:00 AM
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Americans Breeze Into Quarterfinals Against Overmatched Angola
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Angola was in trouble from the start as Team USA summoned youthful enthusiasm at the world championships.
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08/31/2010 08:00 AM
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Luis Scola Helps Argentina Remain Unbeaten
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Argentina defeated Angola, 91-70, essentially securing a spot in the second round of the world basketball championships.
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07/14/2010 08:00 AM
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Portugal Turns to Angola to Grow
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 With oil and diamonds, Angola is one of the strongest economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and is attracting Portuguese to set up shop there.
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05/03/2010 08:00 AM
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BP Moves to Fix a Leak as Obama Warns of Damage
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 BP prepared to install a shutoff valve on one of three leaks gushing from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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04/14/2010 08:00 AM
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One Player for Whom the Show Won't Go On
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As terrorists make threats against the World Cup in South Africa, one player who has suffered through an attack on a national soccer team, Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo, announced he was quitting the international stage.
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01/26/2010 08:00 AM
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Algeria Strikes Very Late to Eliminate Ivory Coast
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Hameur Bouazza scored in extra time as Algeria beat Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals of the African nations Cup.
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01/22/2010 08:00 AM
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Angola Moves to Make President Stronger
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 The Angolan Parliament approved a new constitution Thursday that will further concentrate power in the hands of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
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01/11/2010 08:00 AM
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A Big Part of Life, and Now Death
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 World sports, and not simply African soccer, now have to face up to the reality that they can no longer presume they are immune from terrorism.
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10/24/2009 08:00 AM
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Repent or Resign, Bishops Tell African Politicians
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Declaring that Africa needed more “saints” in public life, African bishops issued a strong statement calling on corrupt Catholic politicians to “repent” or leave office.
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World Events 
